Refrigerating apparatus



March 9, 1965 K. K. KESLlNG 3,172,714

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 28, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 HI L] I 29 I l l ll l I, in. IWIHUIHHIH! HI}??? so IHIIYIHHIIHIII H91 I I Pf. l H I lHilllHHHilllll 82 Fig.

INVENTOR.

Kai/h K. Kes/ing His Affomey March 9, 1965 K. K. KESLING 3,172,714

REFRIGERATINGAPPARATUS Filed Sept. 28, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 His Attorney United States Patent 3,172,714 REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Keith K. Kesling, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 28, 1962, Ser. No. 226,863 4 Claims. (Cl. 312-436) This invention pertains to refrigerating apparatus and more particularly to household refrigerators containing storage compartments for the moist storage of vegetables.

Household refrigerators need space to store wide varieties of food including fresh vegetables. Often, when additional food is to be stored, it is necessary to rearrange the storage of food. Fresh vegetables require a cold, humid condition to prevent their drying and wilting.

It is an object of this invention to provide a household refrigerator with a simple, convenient way of storing a wide variety of food including a convenient separate container for the moist storage of fresh vegetables and to provide for the convenient rearrangement of the food.

It is another object of this invention to provide a household refrigerator with a convenient door arrangement which, when opened, places the fresh vegetable receptacle in an exposed, readily accessible location, convenient for rearranging foods in conjunction with the use of the open door as a rearranging shelf.

It is another object to arrange a door and to fasten a receptacle to it in such a way that the opening of the door exposes the receptacle provided with an easily opened lid on top.

It is another object of this invention to provide a household refrigerator with a door which can be moved upwardly out of the way for access to the storage cornpartment.

These and other objects are attained in the form shown in the drawings in which a refrigerator cabinet provided with separate upper and lower compartments is refrigerated by cold air circulated from a refrigerating system beneath the compartments. The lower, below-freezing compartment projects forwardly relative to the abovefreezing compartment providing an exposed top portion which serves as a shelf or table top. The upper compartmen't is provided with a lower door which pivots forwardly and downwardly onto the exposed top portion of the lower compartment which serves as a shelf. Spaced from but fixed to the lower door is a fresh vegetahle receptacle provided with a lid which forms the top of the receptacle, when this lower door is opened, to provide ready access to the receptacle as well as to the storage space behind the receptacle. At one side of this receptacle, partitions divide the lower portion of the storage compartments into a second or subcompartment provided with a door which slants at an angle of about 45 to provide better access thereto. The upper door is provided with a linkage arrangement whereby it may be raised upwardly to open up the upper portion of the upper compartment.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a household re frigerator embodying one form of my invention; and

FIGURE 2 is a side vertical sectional view of the refrigerator shown in FIGURE 1.

Referring now to the drawing and more particularly to FIGURES 1 and 2, there is shown an insulated household refrigerator cabinet having vertical insulated rear 3,172,714 Patented Mar. 9, 1965 wall 20, side vertical insulated walls 22 and insulated horizontal bottom wall 24 extending over the refrigeration machinery compartment 26 and a horizontal insulated top wall 28. A horizontal insulated partition wall 30 provides the top enclosure for the below-freezing compartment 32. This horizontal insulating partition 30 continues forwardly providing an exposed top wall portion 34 which serves as a shelf or table top. The front of the below-freezing compartment 32 is closed by a large door 36 pivoted at the bottom upon the hinge means 38 having a horizontal axis. The upper compartment 40 is located between the horizontal insulated partition wall 36 and the top wall 28.

Air is withdrawn from the compartments 40 and 32 through a duct 42 in the rear wall by a fan 44 which forces the air through a refrigerant evaporator 46 operating at below-freezing temperatures and returns some of the air through the duct 48 to the hollow ice tray shelf 59 having in its bottom wall the distributed outlets 52 which provide a distributed flow of below freezing air to the compartment 32 to freeze ice in the tray 54 and to maintain passages within the compartment 32 below freezing temperatures at all times. Air is also supplied through a duct 56 to an opening 58 at the top of the compartment 40 for maintaining the compartment 40 at above-freezing temperatures. The flow is restricted by the outlet 58 so that below-freezing temperatures will not be attained in the compartment 40. The machinery compartment 26 also includes a sealed motor-compressor unit 60, a condenser 62, a blower 64 and an electric motor 66 for driving both the blower 64 and the fan 44. Further description of the refrigerating system is found in the James W. Jacobs Patent 3,048,024, issued August 7, 1962.

According to my invention, the lower portion of the upper compartment 40 is closed at the front by a lower insulated door 70 hinged adjacent its lower edges upon a horizontal axis by the hinge means 72 mounted on the exposed top portion 34. This hinged means is arranged so that the door 70 will open forwardly and downwardly onto the exposed top portion 34 which will support it in the open position. Fixed to the door 70 but spaced from its inwardly facing surface is a fresh vegetable food storage receptacle 74 especially designed to maintain a relatively high humidity with a low rate of cold air circulation therein. This receptacle may be fastened to the door by the spaced studs 76. This allows a limited flow of cold air circulation from the discharge outlet 58 between the receptacle 74 and the door 70 before this air flows through the air outlet 78. The circulation of cold air on all sides of the receptacle 74 maintains the receptacle and its contents at desirable refrigerating temperatures. The receptacle 74, in the position it assumes when the door 70 is closed, has a lid on its inwardly facing side provided with a suitable latch means 82 at the top and a piano-type hinge means 84 at the bottom having a horizontal pivoting axis. By this arrangement, as illustrated in FIGURE 1, when the door 70 is pivoted forwardly and downwardly onto the exposed top portion of 34, the lid 80 and the latch 82 are in a convenient position for opening to gain access to the receptacle 74. The receptacle 74 is then convenient for insertion and removal of vegetables and other food therein. The portion of the inner surface of the door 70 in the open position at the side of the receptacle 74 provides a convenient place for the rearrangement of vegetables and other foods in the cabinet. Foods, which must be moved from one part of the refrigerator to another, can be placed upon the portion of the door 70 at the side of the receptacle during the rearranging operation.

the side and top Walls 22 and 28.

shelf 92 above the compartment wall 86 and larger horizontal shelves 94, 96 and 98 in the upper portion of the compartment 40.

The upper door 121, closing the upper portion of the compartment 40, normally rests upon the seal 123 between it and the lower door 70. It, like the lower door 70, is provided with a gasket seal 125 between it and In order that the door 121 may be moved freely upwardly out of the way for easy access to the compartment 40, it is supported on each side by two links 127 and 129 located partially within the walls 22 and pivoted respectively on the pivot pins 131 and 133. These links 127 and 129 are also pivotally connected by the pivot pins 135 and 137 to the middle and lower portions of the door as shown in FIGURE 2. The pivot pins 131 are located adjacent the top wall 28 and near the front of the compartment 40 while pivot pins 133 are located near the shelf 98 and near the rear wall 20. The link 127 is bent at the point 139 substantially at right angles. The point 139 is located a distance from its pivot pin 135 equal to the distance of the pivot pin 133 from the front of the side wall 22. The link 129 is provided with a humped portion 141 adjacent the door 121. The door 121, when grasped by the handle 143, may be readily moved upwardly to the position shown in FIGURE 1 for free access to the upper compartment 40. The lower door 70 may either remain closed while the upper door 121 is opened or may be opened by grabbing the handle 145 to pull the door 70 forwardly and downwardly. Through this arrangement, the refrigerator is made convenient and readily accessible.

While the embodiment of the present invention as herein disclosed constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A refrigerator including insulated top and bottom and side and rear walls enclosing a compartment to be cooled, lower and upper doors extending across the front of said compartment, said lower door being pivoted adjacent its lower edge to the walls for pivotal movement forwardly and downwardly, a closed receptacle and located only on one side of and fixed to but spaced from the inwardly facing side of said lower door, said receptacle having an adjacent wall spaced from but generally parallel to said inwardly facing side and means for cooling the air in said compartment and circulating the cooled air around said closed receptacle.

2. A refrigerator including insulated walls enclosing a relatively deep lower compartment and a relatively shallow upper compartment, said lower compartment having a front door located forwardly of the front of the upper compartment, the projecting portion of the lower compartment being provided with an exposed top, said upper comartment having lower and upper doors extending across the front of said compartment, said lower door being pivoted adjacent its lower edge to the Walls for pivotal movement forwardly and downwardly onto said exposed top and a closed receptacle fixed to but spaced from the inwardly facing side of said lower door, said receptacle having a lid in its inwardlyfacing side as determined when the lower door is in its closed position, said lid being hinged upon a horizontal axis as determined when said lower door is in its closed position, and means for cooling the air in said compartment and circulating the cooled air completely around said closed receptacle.

3. A refrigerator including insulated top and bottom and side and rear walls enclosing a compartment to be cooled, a door extending across the front of said compartment, the opposite side walls of said compartment each having pivoted thereto an upper link bent at substantially a right angle in a plane parallel to the side walls and a lower link substantially longer than the upper link both pivotally connected to the door for guiding said door upwardly above said compartment.

4. A refrigerator including insulated top and bottom and side and rear walls enclosing a compartment to be cooled, lower and upper doors extending across the front of said compartment, said lower door being pivoted adjacent its lower edge to the walls for pivotal movement forwardly and downwardly, said walls including means for preventing the pivoting of said lower door beyond the horizontal position, a closed receptacle fixed to but spaced from the inwardly facing side of said lower door, means located in said compartment and fixed to the walls thereof behind said lower door when said lower door is closed enclosing a second compartment, said second compartment and said closed receptacle being located on opposite sides of a vertical plane dividing the refrigerator substantially equally, said closed receptacle having a lid on its inwardly facing side as determined when the lower door is in its closed position, said lid being hinged upon a horizontal axis substantially parallel to the axis of the pivoting axis of said lower door and adjacent the rear thereof when said lower door is in its open position, and means for cooling the air in first mentioned compartment and circulating theeooled air completely around said closed receptacle find over said second compartment. t

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

2. A REFRIGERATOR INCLUDING INSULATED WALLS ENCLOSING A RELATIVELY DEEP LOWER COMPARTMENT AND A RELATIVELY SHALLOW UPPER COMPARTMENT, SAID LOWER COMPARTMENT HAVING A FRONT DOOR LOCATED FORWARDLY OF THE FRONT OF THE UPPER COMPARTMENT, THE PROJECTING PORTION OF THE LOWER COMPARTMENT BEING PROVIDED WITH AN EXPOSED TOP, SAID UPPER COMPARTMENT HAVING LOWER AND UPPER DOORS EXTENDING ACROSS THE FRONT OF SAID COMPARTMENT, SAID LOWER DOOR BEING PIVOTED ADJACENT ITS LOWER EDGE TO THE WALLS FOR PIVOTAL MOVEMENT FORWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY ONTO SAID EXPOSED TOP AND A CLOSED RECEPTACLE FIXED TO BUT SPACED FROM THE INWARDLY FACING SIDE OF SAID LOWER DOOR, SAID RECETPACLE HAVING A LID IN ITS INWARDLY FACING SIDE AS DETERMINED WHEN THE LOWER DOOR IS IN ITS CLOSED POSITION, SAID LID BEING HINGED UPON A HORIZONTAL AXIS AS DETERMINED WHEN SAID LOWER DOOR IS IN ITS CLOSED POSITION, AND MEANS FOR COOLING THE AIR IN SAID COMPARTMENT AND CIRCULATING THE COOLED AIR COMPLETELY AROUND SAID CLOSED RECEPTACLE. 